


are you lonely?

by dukeordare



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff and Angst, OH YEAH if the chinese is wrong i apologizs, Reunions, i went againts my better judgement and copy pasted from google translate out of laziness im so sorry, ill fix it later i promise its almost 2 am, im still not sure why im using it, it should say "good luck" but i wouldnt trust that website with a penny, mention of lúcio, ok thats enough tags goodbye, one more cause ao3 is a butt, shoutout 2 friend.. u know who u are, sue me blizzard, thats this. its great. theyre great. i love them, uhh tell me if i should tag this with anything else, whose name i probably misspelled, yes im aware genji is japanese hes Smart boy who also knows chinese, you know that good ass trope where characters dont have to say "i love you" to say "i love you"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 11:12:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11919699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dukeordare/pseuds/dukeordare
Summary: The hangar is dark as she steps out of the plane. Her heart sinks in her chest somewhat; she reasons that it’s late, and that those who have responded to the recall have work to do to make up for those who haven’t—who won’t, who can’t.Snowball whirrs to life on her back and goes to float next to her with a chirp of “Mei!” Mei smiles and pats them affectionately before sighing and looking back at the dark hangar.“Looks like it’s just me and you, Snowball,” she says. Snowball chirrups again and starts to float forward.A voice echoes throughout the hangar.“Not quite, Agent Zhou,” Athena says smoothly, and the lights flicker on.(or: mei comes home.)





	are you lonely?

**Author's Note:**

> im gay

There’s been so much leading up to this moment.  
It’s passed by slow as tar and quick as light, and Mei has barely realized they’ve almost made it by the time she’s stepping into the hangar of Watchpoint: Gibraltar for the first time in a nine-year span that felt like three minutes.  
The hangar is dark as she steps out of the plane. Her heart sinks in her chest somewhat; she reasons that it’s late, and that those who have responded to the recall have work to do to make up for those who haven’t—who won’t, who can’t.  
Snowball whirrs to life on her back and goes to float next to her with a chirp of “Mei!” Mei smiles and pats them affectionately before sighing and looking back at the dark hangar.  
“Looks like it’s just me and you, Snowball,” she says. Snowball chirrups again and starts to float forward.  
A voice echoes throughout the hangar.  
“Not quite, Agent Zhou,” Athena says smoothly, and the lights flicker on.  
In the middle of the hangar stand five figures. Mei’s throat catches when she tries to speak and greet them, but even if she had managed to make a noise, she is interrupted by a whoop and a flash of blue, and then she and Lena Oxton are rolling head over heels in a tight embrace.  
Miraculously, they don’t knock into anything, and come to a stop upright and clinging to each other, Lena’s voice going non-stop in Mei’s ear and Mei just laughing between sobs. Snowball floats over to them and chirrups again, sounding almost like laughter, and Lena turns her head enough to grin at them. “Got yourself a bot, have you? What’s this bloke’s name?”  
Mei rolls her eyes and disentangles from Lena, who jumps to her feet and rubs furiously at her tear-stained cheeks. “That’s Snowball. They kind of came with the Ecopoint.”  
“Oi, nice. Package deal, eh?”  
Mei smiles as Snowball shoots a short blast of chilly air at Lena, who sputters and bats at it, freckled cheeks going rosy.  
“Well, come on then. I’m flattered, but I’m not the only one that missed you.” Lena jerks her head towards the four remaining figures in the hangar, and Mei swallows and nods before following the cheery Brit closer.  
Genji is the first of them to greet her. Mei doesn’t recognize him for a moment; she remembers an angry kid with a scarred face peeking out from a mask that screamed “Talk to me about vintage alternative punk bands.” But even when Genji’s face is hidden, his voice is light and untroubled as he says, “Mei! Good to know a little frostbite won’t take you down.”  
Mei laughs, eyes stinging, and he pulls her in for a hug. It’s brief, but when he pulls away Genji says, “If you ever feel the need to discuss what happened at the Ecopoint, I’m always here.”  
Mei gives him a watery smile. “Thank you, Genji. Not yet, okay?”  
Genji hums and replies, “I could also arrange a meeting with my master, Tekhartha Zenyatta. He is _most_ enlightened.”  
“I appreciate it, Genji. Really.”  
“Mm.”  
His hand leaves her shoulder, and she turns just in time to be swooped up by Reinhardt. Mei laughs again, and it feels so _good_ to laugh, and Reinhardt rumbles, voice thick and hesitating, “Miss Zhou, if you _ever_ disappear like that again, I may have to put you on the Bad Friend wall. You are only exempt because you came back.”  
“The _what_ wall?”  
“It’s better not to ask,” says a voice behind them, and Mei feels dizzy just hearing it. Or maybe that’s loss of blood from how hard Reinhardt is squeezing her. She taps him and chokes, “I missed you too, Reinhardt,” and he puts her down with a grunt, a sniff, and a small “Apologies.”  
Reinhardt glances at something behind Mei’s shoulder, and Mei has to stop herself from turning around, instead stepping towards Winston.  
Winston opens his mouth to say something, but Mei dashes at him and pulls him down to hug him (or at least his neck). Winston goes silent for a moment before returning it, and Mei whispers, “Gorilla hug,” into his fur. She has long since stopped bothering to hold back tears, and only hopes nobody minds being cried on.  
When she pulls away, Winston won’t look her in the eye. He inhales and takes a moment before rumbling, “I’m sorry we never came for you guys. We could have saved all of you, but we—we didn’t. I don’t know how to make this up to you.”  
Mei sighs and then giggles, and says, “Let’s just say you owe me one, okay, big guy?”  
Winston nods, and Mei steps away from him and takes a deep breath. She turns and stares at Angela, who stares back.  
“Hi,” Mei finally says.  
“Hello,” Angela replies.  
Out of the corner of her eye, Mei sees Reinhardt knock a recording device out of Lena’s hands and tug Genji’s arm with a low murmur. Genji nods and turns away, but not before saying, “ _Zhù nǐ hǎo yùn_.”  
Winston, Lena, Reinhardt, and Genji shuffle out of the hangar, leaving Mei and Angela alone but for Snowball, who floats curiously around Angela’s head.  
Mei isn’t sure who or what snaps first; she just feels time suddenly go back to light-speed, just for a second, and then she and Angela are locked in a tight embrace, sinking to their knees on the floor as they press their faces into each other’s shoulders.  
Angela doesn’t smell the way she used to; once it was lilac-scented bedsheets crisply folded, the scent of hand sanitizer, and a warm hint of old, yellowed books, perhaps untouched for the last decade. Now it is the tang of metal and fresh ink on fresh pages. Mei breathes her in anyways, tears salty on her lips, fingers clenched on the fabric of Angela’s lab coat while Angela’s fingers tangle in Mei’s hair, the pin starting to come loose.  
The crying has come back full force, and Mei takes in shuddering breaths between sobs. Angela cries, too, after a few more seconds, and it comes out like she’s been holding it in; they are close, close enough that Mei can feel Angela’s chest almost collapse in on itself as she lets out a puff of air and chokes out something Mei’s brain doesn’t register.  
They stay like that long enough that the cold of the floor starts seeping into Mei’s bones, and when she finally exhausts herself with crying, she pulls her face away from Angela’s shoulder and cups the other woman’s face in her hands, small, watery smiles slowly spreading over both of their faces.  
“I’m sorry,” is the first thing out of Angela’s mouth.  
Mei’s smile fades at the raw guilt in Angela’s eyes. “Wh—Angela, I—Why?”  
“We never—none of us ever—” Angela’s hands clench on Mei’s coat as her gaze falls and tears well in her eyes again, and it hurts just to look at. Snowball beeps, and Angela lets out a small puff of wry laughter, one hand coming up to push her hair away from her face. “I never came to get you. Or Opara, or Torres, or—”  
“Angela—”  
“We just _left_ you all there, and they died and you’ve gone through God knows what, and I’m so—”  
“Angela,” Mei interrupts again, more forcefully, and Angela takes in a shuddering breath.  
“It—It’s not your fault. It’s not, okay? Overwatch was—Overwatch was falling into ruin, and there were more people that you could help there than by coming to get me in _Antarctica_. Opara, and Torres, and Arrhenius and, and Adams and MacReady—we can’t do anything for them anymore.” And it seems that Mei has more tears to shed after all, because her voice wobbles on the “anything” and cracks on “them,” and her eyes are starting to hurt from trying to look past the shadows at Angela through the tears in her eyes. “At least they don’t have to fight anymore. We have to do what we can for the—” Her voice falters again, her throat aches and Angela has gone back to looking her in the eyes. She takes a deep breath and continues, “For the family we have left, okay?”  
Angela takes another shuddering breath, and Mei shakily continues, “We’re in this together, and we—we all have to look out for each other—when we can. We can get through all this, but we have to let go of things we can’t change first.”  
After a long moment, Angela lets out a shaky laugh and remarks, “You have so much hope, Mei. Sometimes I wonder if we live on the same awful Earth.”  
“I hope we do,” Mei replies, wiping a tear from Angela’s cheek with her thumb, “Because I’ve really missed you.”  
Angela smiles and tilts her head downward until Mei can feel her breath on her lips. “I really missed you too,” she murmurs, “And you’re still as lovely as you were last I saw you.”  
Mei closes her eyes and the distance between them in the same breath, and her chest aches when Angela doesn’t pull away and she knows without either of them saying it that Angela still loves her and Mei still loves Angela, and she hopes to God that whatever cold winds may come that that will never change.

———

Mei’s quarters at Watchpoint: Gibraltar have been left untouched and abandoned; the few personal belongings she left behind before leaving for Antarctica are covered in dust, as is the mattress on the bed and the shelves on the walls. She stares at them for a while in the dark after coming back to her room, the shadows seeming to grow longer and for a moment she thinks she can see her breath. A sick feeling starts to rise in her throat, an urgency in her mind, and she turns away, leaving most of her belongings on the bed to arrange later.  
The person residing in the quarters next to hers is new; a cheerful young freedom fighter by the name of Lúcio Correias dos Santos, and Mei can hear the music he’s playing faintly through the door as she walks by. She has the idle thought through it's racing fellows that it must be very loud to reach through the mostly-soundproof walls of the agents’ quarters, and hopes he’s wearing something to protect his ears.  
The halls are quiet as she makes her way towards Angela’s quarters. There is no longer a comforting weight on her back as there was for so long; she left Snowball behind in her room in her haste, and with every step that echoes in the halls the thought repeats: _I’m alone. I’m alone. I’m alone_.  
Her steps speed up with her thoughts, and it doesn’t take long before she’s at Angela’s door. She exhales and says, stomach churning, “Athena, could you please tell Angela I’m here?”  
“I told her you were approaching a few minutes ago, Mei. She’ll be with you shortly.”  
Mei flushes and mumbles a “Thank you,” just loud enough for Athena to pick it up, and a few moments later the door slides smoothly open and Angela stands in front of her.  
“Mei, are you alright?” Angela asks, and her hair is loose from its holder and so much longer than Mei remembers, she is different in so many ways but she is still Angela and she is _here_ , and Mei swallows before blurting out, “My room is too dusty and I was sneezing, a lot, but I'm not sick or anything," she adds hurriedly, "...Um. Do you mind if I stay with you?”  
Angela shakes her head and smiles, and steps aside to let Mei in.

———

They’re both tired, and they don’t spend long talking before curling up in Angela’s bed, Angela’s face nestled into Mei’s shoulder and Mei’s hand resting lightly on Angela’s ribs, their legs tangled as much as their difference in height allows and their breathing slowing every second.  
“Angela?” Mei mumbles, half-hoping she doesn’t answer.  
“Mm?”  
“I…” Angela shifts and drapes an arm over Mei’s waist, and Mei inhales and continues, “My room felt like Antarctica. It was dark and kind of cold and empty.”  
Angela is quiet, and Mei starts again, “And when I’m alone, when it’s quiet and Snowball’s turned off, it really does feel like I’m completely alone, and there’s no one in the next room, or the room after that, or anywhere. Like everyone’s gone, like how it was in Antarctica.”  
Angela shifts again, and Mei thinks for a second that she’s moving away from her, but she’s just propping herself up a bit, one arm still resting over Mei’s waist. She smiles and leans over to press a little kiss to Mei’s nose, and says, “I don’t know if this helps, or what’s in the future, but I promise you, I’m going to try my damn hardest to stick around to see it.” Her eyes lock with Mei's. "You didn't deserve to be left alone."  
Mei sighs and nods before leaning forward to press a kiss to Angela's lips with a little smile. "I won't be leaving, either. Promise."  
Angela hums and shifts back to her former position, and when Mei's eyes close that night, for the first time she has faith they'll open in the morning.


End file.
